Neal and I took a weekend away while my parents were in town (thanks, parents)! We flew to New Orleans, and then drove out of town a bit to Ormond Plantation for the night. There aren't too many legitimate plantations where you can stay the night anymore, but we found one! We were the only guests that night, so we had the place to ourselves, which was both nice and a little bit spooky. All of the plantations (as part of their effort to attract tourists) have a few ghost stories in their histories, and Ormond was no different. It was originally built in 1790. Loved it!
View from the front porch. The Mississippi River was just on the other side of the road.
We went into New Orleans for dinner, as there wasn't much to eat or do in Destrehan. We ate at Pêche Seafood Grill. Yum.
The next morning, we toured neighboring Destrehan Plantation. It was awesome. On the tour, we got to go into a room that was left in its original state. They had created a window into the attic so we could see the construction methods the original builders used. The house was built by just a handful of men in the 1790s, of course without the use of any power tools. It is quite a sight to behold.
Original windows still visible.
One of the original pillars from the outside of the house. At one point, the style of the house was changed, and so were the pillars, but each of the several dozen originals was carved by hand from a single tree.
Exterior of Destrehan Plantation.
One of the slave cabins just behind the main house.
Furnished as it would have been in antebellum times.
In the afternoon, we headed back into the city to check into our hotel, Hotel Monteleone (our favorite French Quarter lodging place). We strolled around, ate a lot of good food, and did some serious people watching, which is one of the best things to do in New Orleans. It was this lady's birthday and I wish I had her email address so I could send her this awesome picture. She and her friends paraded down Royal Street in the middle of the day with a band, costumes, and everything. So fun.
We had lunch at Killer Poboys, which is in the back of a bar (oh well), and then dessert at Café du Monde, of course. Mmmm, beignets.
Beautiful Jackson Square on a lovely fall day. We had only ever visited New Orleans in the summertime, so it was nice to walk around in the pretty weather (though it seemed a bit more crowded). I guess fall is high season!
My favorite shop in New Orleans is called Antiques de Provence, on Royal Street. It is full of super pricey French antiques, but I mostly love it because it is in a beautiful building that shoppers pretty much have free reign of. The courtyard out back is filled with pots and outdoor furniture, but also incredible period architecture and details. Ah, I love it.
Neal's favorite shop is the Bevolo Gaslight shop and workroom. One day, he WILL have a reason to need Bevolo gas lamps on our one day house.
We fell upon this cool antique book and print shop. Everyone in here was speaking French, including the people on their phones. So cool.
Something we had never done was take a ride on the St. Charles streetcar, so we did it this time. We had dinner reservations at Herbsaint (AMAZING) for 9:30 (it's hard to get a table in this town), so we took our time and rode the line the whole way. Such a fun way to see the city and the people who live here.
Breakfast found us eating Creole hash browns and more beignets at Café Beignet, just a few doors down from our hotel. Delicious. Then it was off to the Garden District for a Neal-led walking tour.
Until next time, NOLA!
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